Malice in Paradise
by Anima Sola 86
Summary: After falling off the roof of the Los Angeles Theatre, Seamus O'Grady, miraculously brought back to the living, meets a girl that will change his life, becoming his ally in the war against his past! OC; UPDATED!
1. Meeting Alice

**Malice in Paradise**

_**Chapter One – Meeting Alice**_

She awoke with a start. The door of her room was pushed open, before two male nurses rolled a bed inside. There was someone lying on it but only a head, covered in bandages, and a hand, which had slid off the bed, could be seen around the amount of bed sheets. She sat up slowly, her head slightly aching due to the noise, and looked puzzled at the two men who had rolled the bed next to hers and were now bringing it into an immobile position.

"Everywhere else is full, we're overrun by emergencies tonight," one of the two said to her, answering her confused look. "I hope you don't mind, Alice!" he added with a slight smile before he turned to the other nurse and signaled him to leave. With that they were gone.

She wanted to ask who her new roommate was, but too late. She tried to see some trace of face or skin amidst the pile of sheets but she couldn't make out anything. The other patient seemed to face the other side. She decided to leave her bed and look who was accompanying her. She got off the bed slowly as her head was still racing and its deafening noise made her feel rather shaky. Her bare feet touched the cold floor and she quietly walked over to the end of the other bed. Going around it a bit, she then could see a male face, covered in bandages and band-aids, and some dark hair, standing wildly off the top of his head. She walked to the clipboard that was attached to the end of his bed and began to read.

"Seamus O'Grady," she read quietly. "Accident. Lung contusion, broken rips, brain concussion, wound in the stomach, mildly injured organs, fractured wrist."

She looked up at the guy in the bed again.

"O'Grady… _O'Grady_…," she muttered to herself. "I know that name…"

She furrowed her forehead and examined the man's face (or the parts that she could see).

"Well, whoever you are, you must have been through a hell of a time!"

It was then that she heard voices outside the door. She quickly got back to her bed and almost jumped into the cushions (her head was now about to explode), when the door of the room opened quietly. The noise inside her head was so loud it completely shut out everything the men that had entered the room were saying. She only caught some bits that made no sense at all – and she caught the funny way those men were talking. She recognized their thick accent immediately. Irish.

O'Grady. _Irish_.

"Irish mafia!" she gasped, hiding her face deep in the pillows of her bed, trying to lie still and listen over the drumming in her head.

The men didn't seemed to notice her and after a while, they left the room again. She looked up slowly, and seeing that she was alone with that O'Grady guy again, she sat up in her bed and looked over to the other. There was no movement from the man next to her, she couldn't even see if he was still breathing. But however bad his injuries were, he had to be more or less healed again as he was now sharing a room with a girl who got here because of a rather banal fact.

She slowly got off the bed again and, walking to the end of it, shot a quick look at her own clipboard. It said: "Alice M., circulatory disturbance. Scratch to the forehead. Mild concussion."

"That's pathetic compared to his injuries…," she muttered and looked over to the other bed.

When her head began to race again, and she remembered how it had come this far, she decided to go to the bathroom of the patients' room. Entering the small cabinet, a wave of nausea rushed over her and she quickly leant onto the sink, watching her pale self in the mirror.

Her dyed blond hair (the roots of which had to be re-dyed for her originally black hair would come through again) was totally messed up and looked as if it had never seen a hairbrush before. She tried to straighten it a bit with water, but it wouldn't help. She shook her head slightly and decided to throw some cold water in her face that felt awkwardly hot even though her skin was as white as a piece of paper (which was odd even for her standards as a daughter of a rather tanned Latin American woman and a very pale Canadian man). Cold sweat poured from her forehead, making her lean down and refresh herself. Drying her face with a towel she found next to the sink, she sighed loudly, remembering why she had to spend the next twenty-four hours in this goddamn hospital…

It had been after lunch when Alice walked to the next class with her friends. She had spent the whole time of her lunch break thinking about how she could figure out her current parental situation of having to cope with a drunken stepfather, a little brother and no mother around while her stupid little friends had been complaining about how stupid boys of the same age were that she had forgotten to eat anything. Three hours later, when she was supposed to have PE with the prospect of having to run a mile, the world around her went black and she found herself lying on the ground, stared at by many worried faces. She fainted and she didn't just fell over, but hit the edge of a locker when she fell. There was blood involved too. The teacher soon after sent her to hospital where she had to stay over night because the doctors thought she might fell over once more.

Stupid doctors. She hated to be here. She hated hospitals. She was too young to stay here! She had heard so many terrible stories about people dying in hospitals, right under the great noses of those great doctors who can almost heal anything! _Screw that!_ Those doctors were just as human as she or the guy was that was now sharing the room with her. And that was the next thing: they didn't even have enough space of every patient! _Stupid_! However stupid it might be to spend the night in a place full of sick people, she still had the tiniest bit of contentment that it would be one night without watching her stepfather sitting on a couch watching stupid football games. Drinking every can of beer he could find.

She quickly quit thinking as her head was beginning to race again and she couldn't stand the sound of her own blood rushing through her ears. It was deafening... She sighed and left the bathroom. When she entered the patients' room again, her eyes fell immediately on the stranger's bed – which was empty.

She looked around in confusion before she saw him standing at the window, his back turned to her. He was tall, really tall, and he was wearing a grey shirt and tight black trousers that emphasized his muscled legs and were stuck in red Doc Martens. He also wore red braces that hung loosely at his sides. His short black hair had some Mohawk-ish features to it. Even though she only saw his back, she thought that he seemed to be muscled and definitely in good shape. She again wondered what brought him into this hospital.

She slowly walked over to her bed (and tried to reach it before he noticed her) and spotted that he had ripped off all his bandages, now lying on his empty bed. Before she could, however, reach her bed and slip under the sheets unnoticed, the man at the window turned around – and stopped right in his tracks when he saw her.

So did Alice. She immediately froze due to his staring gaze and tried to hide the fear that rose inside her. She never stood face to face to an Irish mobster. But living in Los Angeles, she knew, that making eye contact with one of these guys practically always meant trouble. And this was the exact same thing that she felt when she stared into this guy's eyes. He stared at her as if she was a ghost – and she suddenly wished to actually be one.

He slowly broke his stare and came walking towards her, shaking his head, staring and muttering things she couldn't understand. As he was merely two feet away from her, she heard what he was muttering:

"Helen!" There was blind hatred in his voice.

She stared at him but before she knew it, he was in front of her, locking eyes with her, his hands clenched to fists, dangling at his sides, his face switching with anger. Even without having the slightest chance to react to his sudden movement, Alice saw his hand shooting forward. He grabbed her throat with a force that made her squeak in shock and just stare, motionless, into those dark eyes that were sparkling with red fury.

* * *

**A/N: This Seamus O'Grady fanfiction is set some weeks after Seamus fell off the roof of the Los Angeles Theatre - and I know that he seemingly died in the end, but no, there was no direct proof (no, Creepy Thin Man didn't killed him and neither did the giant E that fell on him xD); I mean, come on, the Angels survived so many mad things, so can he. It's fiction, man, and it's Hollywood, everything's possible! So, what does a man like him do after almost dying by the hand of the gal that put him to prison? Right, sweet, sweet revenge! That's what this story is about. And other things, actually, but we'll come to that later! **

_**- See in the next chapter: Alice and Seamus - innocent girl and bad guy? Read on, and learn more about Alice!**_

**Disclaimer: Seamus O'Grady belongs to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Alice is my OC!**


	2. A Girl Like Her

**Malice in Paradise**

_**Chapter Two – A girl like her**_

Seamus couldn't believe his eyes when he turned around from the window. He still felt a little dizzy when he had woken up moments ago and didn't quite know why he was in hospital (well, all those bandages gave him a hint though) and he definitely didn't know that he shared a room with… _her_. At first he had thought he would be hallucinating. It just couldn't be happening. That just couldn't be her. But the way she looked, the way her eyes widened when she saw him coming forwards. It was the same look he saw on her face eight years ago when she witnessed him shooting that damn bastard.

_Darn. That just couldn't be real!_

The closer he got to her, the more it dawned on him. _It was her_. The messy blond hair, the pale skin, the dark rings around those deep eyes. It was Helen. Rage rising inside of him, Seamus shot forward and grabbed the girl's throat. She let out a squeak and stared into his eyes, terrified, shocked. He lifted her off the ground with one hand, locking eyes with her. She looked down at him, clutching his hand with frustrated nails, her gaze turning even more horrified.

It was then that he couldn't stand her gaze anymore and just threw her light handed onto one of the beds. She again let out a shriek and quickly crawled off the bed again, heading to the door of the room. Before she could reach it, however, he was with her again, grabbing her upper arms with a force that made her scream slightly again. She didn't really scream when he tossed her around the room, she was merely shocked and whimpering with fear.

_What a pussy had she become?_

He pushed her against the wall next to the bathroom door and grabbed her throat once more. She again clutched his hand and tried to free herself but he was too strong for a small girl like her.

_A girl…_ but…

She stared into his eyes again, those deep, horrified eyes, that made him feel a bit taken aback. There was a spark inside of them, a spark that screamed: "Please let go of me! I haven't done anything!" But this pathetic pleading wouldn't fool him. Not after those years he had been in prison, waiting to be released and to revenge on the person who put him to jail. _Helen_. That cowardly little bitch. And now, eight years later, he would continue what he had begun when that Lee woman had released him from prison.

Wait. Eight years. _This was… insane… _When he had aged, why didn't Helen age herself? She still looked like the small seventeen year old she had been when he last saw her. Eight years ago.

Suddenly he remembered why he was in hospital. Helen pushed him more or less from that roof and he fell right on top of that weird thin man. He had already met her, more than once actually. He had tried to fight her twice before. He had seen her. Her name wasn't Helen anymore. But…

He looked down at the girl whose throat he was squeezing. She still stared at him with pure shock, gasping for air, her mouth slightly open, her eyes widened, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

_This wasn't Helen_. She was too young. Much too young.

The realization rushed through his body like an electric shock. He immediately loosened his grip on the girl's throat and backed away, his eyes widening with every step. What had he done? Who was this girl? Why did she look like Helen? Why was she here in his room? What happened that he thought she would actually be Helen? He backed up until he almost fell over the bed. He sat down at the end of it and stared at the frightened looking girl that was still leaning helplessly against the wall, rubbing her throat.

He then shook his head and rubbed his eyes with both hands.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Pardon me?" he heard the girl whisper.

He looked up and saw her pushing off the wall, taking some steps towards him, while her hand still clutched her throat.

"I said I'm sorry," he repeated, trying to avoid her gaze.

He felt quite stupid. Strangling a little girl. Who was he? What made him turn into a mindless robot that was willing to destroy everything and everyone around just because of the rage he felt for another woman?

"You're sorry?" she repeated, her forehead furrowed. "Now that's nice," she added, whispering. "You almost killed me… but, well, _thanks _for the apology!" she went on in the same hushed whisper, before she walked to the other bed and sat down herself, shaking her head slowly.

He turned around to her.

"I am sorry, I thought you were… somebody else," he said.

"Oh great!" she said sarcastically. "Well, I don't want to change with this person," she added and got up quite quickly again.

Seamus watched her tumbling a bit, her face even paler than before. She soon got hold of the bed frame but before she could stand straight again, she staggered forward, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. Before he knew it, he jumped off his bed and caught her, just before she could hit the ground. She quickly came back to herself, her eyes staring drowsily up into his. A second later, her eyes widened in shock.

She quickly freed herself out of his hold and backed away from him like a deer surrounded by wolves until she hit the wall between the beds, her hands quickly searching for the alarm button.

"No, wait!" he quickly said, freezing when her fingers closed around the string next to the bed that patients had to pull if there was a problem. He knew that he was the problem.

She stared at him, not moving a muscle.

"I'm sorry, alright, I didn't mean to hurt you," he said and took a step forward.

She immediately raised one hand to show him to not come any closer. He froze again.

"Don't do that, alright? I'm in enough trouble as it is –"

"Now you're _begging _for my compassion?"

"I'm not begging at all, I just –"

"I know who you are," she said, locking eyes with him.

"So what?"

"You are… you are a –," she stammered, apparently not able to say what he was. "You are an O'Grady…"

"So says the clipboard," he replied, motioning to the board attached to his bed.

"But it doesn't say that you are… that your family is…"

"What?"

"Mafia," was the only word she said in a hoarse whisper.

His brows rose at the sound of her voice. He didn't know whether she was afraid of what she just said or whether she just pretended to be tough, when, apparently, she almost seemed to wet herself. He decided to throw her a smile.

What she in fact hadn't seen coming. She gaped at him, still clutching the alarm string.

"So what, young lady?" he said, trying to sound as amused as he wanted to feel.

"Don't think I'm afraid or so, I'm just… I was told to be… I was told not to make eye contact with someone like you…"

"Someone like me, huh?" he said with a grin. "Well, actually, you're not looking anywhere else, are you?"

He could see her blush slightly what made him grin even broader.

"Alright, what about we just forget this little incident, shall we?"

She still glared at him, but her hand slowly loosened around the string and finally fell to the side of her body that (as Seamus could make out even from this distance) shook slightly.

"Tell me your name, missy," he said with a friendly smile.

He suddenly felt all his rage and anger that he had produced against Helen fell off his body as if it would be absorbed and destroyed by this girl.

"I don't take orders," she replied, folding her arms in front of her chest.

Seamus laughed and sat back down on his bed.

"Will you _please _tell me your name?"

But she just examined him with an intense glare.

"Well, I could just look at your clipboard, couldn't I?" he said and turned around to grab it from the end of her bed. "Alice M.," he read out and dropped the board. "Alice M. … What does the M stand for, young Alice?"

Her eyes narrowed at the sound of his voice. She seemed to be offended by the way he talked to her. He couldn't help but treat her like a stubborn child.

"Mayer," she said after a while of glaring at him.

"Really?" he replied, watching her closely.

"Yeah, really!" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, Alice," he then said, smiling slightly. "Nice to meet you…"

She immediately shook her head in disbelief.

"This is so fucking weird!" she spat out. "First you almost strangle me to death and now it's _nice to meet me_? Damn, you are some fucked up person!"

Seamus mouth opened slightly but he didn't feel angry or offended, but amused. He just raised his eyebrows and looked at her. She really reminded him of Helen; stubborn, honest, a bit rebellious, but also sweet and somehow fragile and with the strong (even though involuntarily) need to be protected. He suddenly remembered how he had felt eight years ago, when everything had been fine, when he hadn't gotten himself into trouble. Before she had found out. He had loved Helen abnormally. And somehow, he loved her even now. But he hated what she had become.

He looked at the girl in front of him.

She waited for his reaction to what she just said about him and surely wondered if he would strangle her again. But he wouldn't. This girl definitely had some courage to talk to him like that. She was like Helen who didn't care about his family either when he told her who his family was. But Helen quickly changed her mind and sooner or later showed him that she did in fact care about the things his family did. The things he did.

This girl already knew what he or his family did and she still had the courage to talk to him like this.

"You're right, I am fucked up," he then said, looking at her with his head tilted to the right.

She threw him a confused look, apparently not sure whether he was serious or not.

"What did you expect? That I strangle you again? Tell my oh so bad family that there's a girl that has offended me? Who am I that I'm running to them just because a girl like you said something?"

She still stared at him. "A girl like _me_?"

"A girl like you," he repeated, grinning.

"What kind of a girl am I?"

"The kind of girl that tries to be tough in front of the bad guy…"

"The bad guy?"

"The bad guy," he said, standing up from the bed. "Might be me… or maybe there are more of us bad guys around… maybe hiding in the bathroom or under those beds?"

She rolled her eyes. "Right…"

"You think you're tough, huh?"

Her eyes narrowed when he took some steps towards her.

"You didn't seem that tough when you were pushed right against that wall," he went on, reaching the wall she was standing in front of. "You didn't seem tough at all," he whispered and leant against the wall, supported by his right arm.

She stared up into his eyes, being only inches away from him. He could see her swallow hard but there was no other sign of fear in her pretty face.

* * *

**Disclaimer: Seamus O'Grady belongs to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle**

_**Next chapter: Learning even more about Alice and midnight plans...**_

**Please read and review! **


	3. Being Stupid

**Malice in Paradise**

_**Chapter Three – Being stupid**_

Alice looked up into the lean face of the man who had tossed her around the room just minutes ago. She suddenly didn't feel afraid, she just stared into his eyes and tried to figure out why he leaned so close to her on the wall. Seeing him that close, she first laid eyes on the muscles that could be seen under his shirt and on the tattoos on his arms and neck that she noticed just now. When her gaze wandered back to his eyes, he was smiling at her, which caught her completely off guard.

She felt herself blush and hated herself for being that childish. '_Alright, stupid, remember: that guy's dangerous! Don't mess around!_', she told herself but it wouldn't help. The more she looked into his eyes, the more she felt herself shaking. Neither with fear nor with cold nor with anger… but with –

She didn't know what it was. And before she could find out, he pushed off the wall again and walked around his bed. She cleared her throat in order to get these thoughts off her mind. He turned around to look at her.

"So, tough girl, how long do you think we have to share this room?" he asked with this thick Irish accent that she could listen to forever.

She stared at him, unable to speak, before she cleared her throat again. "I – I don't know. But I'm gone by tomorrow," she then said.

"So you're staying over night?"

She nodded.

He grinned.

"What's that funny?"

He shook his head and turned around again to walk to the window. She stared after him and sighed.

"Well, I could go and try to find another room for you if you want to have some of your own," she said quietly.

He turned around, casually leaning against the windowsill.

"If you like to," he replied.

"What about you?"

"I don't care," he said after a while.

They locked eyes for a moment.

"Well, should I go then?"

"Go if you please."

"But I could as well stay…"

"I don't care," he repeated.

She stared at him, before she decided to drop the topic and sat down on her bed. He just grinned at her.

"So," he said after a while, pushing off the windowsill and walking to his own bed. "Why are you here, young Alice?"

She watched him sit down on his bed, lean against the end of its bed frame, stretch out his legs, all the while looking at her in a waiting and very patient way. She, too, leaned back, crossed her legs and rested her hands on her knees.

"I fainted." she then said with finality.

He chuckled.

"That's not funny! My head hit the locker when I fell down! That hurt!"

"The locker?" he asked, tilting his head. "So I'm guessing you're either a gym freak or you're still going to school."

"Yes, detective, I'm still going to school," she replied, watching him.

"I thought you were older," he said.

"Oh, well, thanks. But I'm not. I'm only sixteen…"

"Sixteen?" he repeated in wonder.

"Yeah, sixteen…" she said slowly. "And I think I don't want to know how old you are!" she added with a grin.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked. "Do I look old?"

She watched him, laughing.

"Do I look old?" he repeated.

"Well, how old _are _you?"

"How old do you think I am?"

"Old," she merely said, grinning from ear to ear.

"_How old_?"

"I don't know… mid-twenty?"

Now it was his turn to grin. "And you think one is old when they are in their mid-twenties?"

She raised one eyebrow. "So you are younger?"

He laughed, yet it seemed as if a jolt rushed through his body and he quickly clutched his stomach and only smiled at her. "I am delighted that you think I'm younger than twenty-five…"

"So you're not?"

"No," he said, grinning.

"Well, so you're in your end-twenties?"

"Nope," he replied.

"Don't tell me you are _thirty_?" she stated in wonder.

"Well, I'll tell you that I'm turning thirty-three next month."

"No _way_!" she gasped.

He just grinned at her. Before she could say anything else, the door of the patients' room opened and a doctor wearing a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck entered. He looked from Seamus to Alice and back.

"I see you don't seem to complain about the current conditions," the doctor said, looking from one smiling face to the other. "Well, I guess they won't be another room so you have no other choice," he said, laughing to himself. Seamus and Alice exchanged gazes. The doctor then turned to the clipboard attached to Seamus's bed. "Well, Mr. … O'Grady. Your fractions and wounds are healing rather quickly, so by tomorrow you might be free to go."

"What a coincidence in those current chaotic conditions," Seamus said, grinning at Alice.

"Oh and Miss –" the doctor began, but was interrupted by Alice.

"I know, I can go tomorrow as well, your colleague told me. And I'm feeling better anyways, so, no need to hold me here any longer."

"Alright. Well, Mr. O'Grady, there will be a nurse coming after diner to change your... bandages," the doctor went on, realizing in mid-sentence that Seamus had already ripped off his bandages.

Seamus nodded and watched (along with Alice) how the doctor scribbled something on both their clipboards and turned to leave afterwards. When he closed the door, Alice's gaze wandered back to Seamus.

"Tell me how you've got all these injuries," she then said, watching him closely.

"I won't take orders, missy," he replied.

She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Well, would you _please _tell me who kicked your ass, then?"

Seamus chuckled and quickly again laid one hand on his stomach.

"Well, there actually was somebody kicking my ass," he began, seemingly trying to remember, as his forehead was furrowed deeply. Alice could see by his eyes that the memory didn't seem to be a good one. "I had a _bad fight _with… well, somebody who did something bad to me –"

"Like what?" Alice asked, leaning forwards, looking curious.

"Like putting me into jail!" he said straight away, making Alice frown and leaning back in surprise.

"You've been in prison?"

"Yes," he said, his voice turning hateful and angry.

"What have you done?"

"What do you think?"

She looked at him, trying to read the answer in his eyes. She had a bad feeling that it would be no good to know why an O'Grady had been in jail.

"Well, I don't care why, you might had your reasons," she said instead.

He threw her a surprised smile and went on.

"Alright, now, this somebody put me into jail and I spent eight years in there, before I recently got released and tried to get some _revenge_. I almost had it but then _this person_ pushed me off a roof."

"You fell off a _roof_?" Alice asked, her eyes widening.

"Off the Los Angeles Theatre, actually," he added.

Her eyes widened even more.

"But I survived as you can see," he said with a smile. "I have no idea how and why, but surely someone didn't want me dead."

"You surely had some guardian angel…"

"I doubt it's been an _angel_, but, sure, I had some luck," he replied, his voice thoughtful.

"So you just fell off that roof?"

"That would have been boring, wouldn't it?" he said with a grin.

She just smiled, tilting her head.

"Well, I fell off that roof and right on top of another guy that fell off the same roof…"

"Sounds like a busy time for guys falling off roofs," she said, chuckling.

"Damn busy," he replied. "Anyways, that's where I got this hole from," he added and lifted up his shirt to reveal not only a muscled stomach but also a rather big red circle.

"A hole?"

"I was stabbed with a sword," he merely said. "Went right through. Still hurts like hell," he added and lowered his shirt again. "But fortunately, none of my organs got that badly scratched. Rather miraculous!"

Alice nodded and stared at the man on the other bed. And she thought her life was exciting.

"How long have you been here now?"

"I guess one or two weeks," he said, shrugging. "Quite a while actually. Been operated last night."

"And you can really _go _by tomorrow?"

"Apparently," he replied. "But enough of me!" he added, leaning forwards and crossing his legs like she did. "Tell me something about _your _exciting school life!"

She watched him, considering whether she ought to tell the guy that she didn't know that much (and who also strangled her only moments before) about her life. He might use it against her. She just couldn't get the thought out of her head that he was part of the Irish mob.

"Well, my life isn't as exciting as yours I guess," she then said.

"Really? Fainting and falling with your head against a locker… that sounds rather exciting to me."

She chuckled. "_Totally_ exciting…"

He tilted his head and watched her. He shook it after a while and unfolded his legs to get up the bed.

"Excuse me for a while," he said, turning to the door. "Let me check what they'll give us for dinner, alright?"

She nodded and threw him a smile. As soon as he'd left the room she leaned back abruptly, immediately hitting her head against the wall by doing so.

"Shit!" she screamed out, holding her wildly aching head with both hands. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

"You alright?" she heard a voice from the door.

She slowly lowered her hands and looked up. Seamus was looking at her with an amused smirk on his lips.

"I'm fine," she whined. "I'm just fine!"

He threw her a sympathetic look and left again.

She then turned around and covered her head with one of the pillows. "Stupid," she muttered into the cushions. "Stupid me!" Her mind was racing and she felt as if her head would explode if she kept thinking about that Irish man who could do anything, even killing someone in front of her – and she would still feel as if he ripped out her heart and put it back in afterwards. It felt weird. She felt weird. It WAS weird! Shaking her head and closing her eyes, she cuddled into the bed sheets and tried to get rid of the memory of his smile and words.

She just hated the fact that it was merely impossible for her to clear her mind…

* * *

**Disclaimer: Seamus O'Grady belongs to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Alice belongs to me.**

_** Read on and find out about Seamus's midnight plans...**_

** Thanks for reading!**


	4. A Guy Like Him

**Malice in Paradise**

_**Chapter Four – A Guy Like Him**_

After Seamus had left the patients' room, he headed straight to the phone booth on the other side of the corridor, looking around for people who might disturb him. Reaching it, he grabbed the earpiece and dialled a number that he hoped to get some information from.

"Aye, it's me," he said when his opponent answered the phone. "I'll be out tomorrow. Make sure there won't be any surprises. You know I hate surprises." He listened to what the other end had to say, looking around even more intensely. "Right. I'll be there when she returns. She'll know it'll be me, don't worry. Yeah. No. Don't come here. I'll take care of that myself!" With that he hung up the receiver and left the phone booth.

* * *

When he returned to the room, he found the girl lying on her bed, apparently sleeping. He decided to use this free time to take a shower. After that, he re-entered the patients' room only wearing his trousers. Ruffling through his wet hair, shaking off last water drops, he walked to his bed and noticed that the nurses had already brought dinner. Some heartlessly made sandwiches and other things he'd probably never eat, rested on a large plate on the nightstand of his bed. He sat down on his bed and grabbed the glass of orange juice that stood beside the plate.

Gulping it down, he took a look at the girl in the other bed. Even though she was covered by sheets and pillows, he could still see her face. She looked rather peaceful, sleeping soundlessly. He put down the glass and leaned on his back to get a better look at her. Tilting his head, he watched her, feeling himself reminded of the times he had watched Helen sleep.

_Helen_. He quickly shook his head to get off the thoughts of that stupid little –

He sighed and lay back on his bed, his arms crossed behind his head. Staring at the ceiling, he soon felt himself falling into a dreamless sleep.

Seamus awoke, however, when a toughly thrown pillow landed on his chest.

He sat up and rested on his arms, looking towards the other bed through a rather dimly lit room.

Alice sat on her bed, her legs crossed in front of her, both hands full of food.

"You're snoring," she said between taking bites of the sandwich and gulping down some juice.

His eyebrows rose but he merely shook his head, chuckling.

"You're enjoying your dinner?"

"I do," she said, still eating. "But I see you didn't?"

"Nah," he said and sat up more, rolling his shoulders. "Not quite what I wanted."

She nodded and put down the glass and the rest of her sandwich, watching him through small eyes. He tilted his head, meeting her gaze.

"What?" he asked when she wouldn't stop staring at him.

"You…" she began, examining his bare chest with her eyes and an unreadable expression on her face. "You definitely don't look like you're turning thirty-three!"

He just laughed. "Why, thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied, still staring at his chest. "I like those tattoos…" she added, whispering as if only talking to herself.

He raised both eyebrows, feeling slightly weird being watched by this girl. "I like them too," he replied, mocking her by repeating her whispering.

It was then that their eyes met and she looked away from his chest, seemingly embarrassed.

"You don't want to sleep yet?" he then asked, watching her, while the darkness laid heavy on his eyelids.

"Not tired," she replied. "And you?"

"I'm snoring," he said, grinning.

She replied his grin before she finally looked away from him and stared out of the window into the night.

"Who is she?" she asked after a while, not looking at him.

"Who?"

"Helen," she said, turning her head to him.

He just stared at her, feeling something inside him grumble. And it wasn't his empty stomach.

"You called me Helen before you… before you strangled me, remember?" she tried to recall his memory. "Who is she?"

He still stared at her, his jaw set. "She," he began, shaking his head slightly. "She was the person who kicked my ass. She sent me to prison, she pushed me off that roof. She…"

Alice watched him, her eyes telling him that she seemed to regret to actually have asked. She seemed to feel that he didn't seem to be comfortable with that topic. After all, that woman definitely had done some damage to him. Damage noticeable by anyone who asked him about Helen.

"She is a woman from my past who looked exactly like you," he finished, looking at her with his head tilted to his side.

"She looked like _me_? That's why you attacked me?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry for that –"

"Forget it. You said so before," she said, throwing him a smile.

"And I still mean it. It's not your fault that you remind me of her…"

"Right," she replied, watching him. "Listen, I'm sorry for what she had done to you and that I… well, um, I don't know… she must have been a real bitch…"

His eyes narrowed. "She is a bitch, _now_, but she wasn't eight years ago…" Even in his own ears, his voice sounded rather melancholy. Before Alice could say anything else, he got up from his bed and walked over to the window, resting his hands on the windowsill, staring outside in the dark.

* * *

Alice followed him with her eyes (even though she merely concentrated on his bare torso and the words "_Only God will judge me_" on his upper back). She frowned at the sight of these words.

"You believe in God?" she asked, before she could think about it.

He turned around and faced her. "Yes, I do."

They looked at each other for a while.

"You don't, am I right?" he then asked.

She considered the appropriate answer. "Well, I never had the chance to actually get to know Him…"

He nodded. "I see," he said, before he shook his head, a slight smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling?"

"This is weird…" he said quietly.

"What?"

"This. It feels as if I've been traveling back in time… eight years ago," he whispered, shaking his head absentmindedly.

Alice watched him looking down, his hand rooting through the pocket of his trousers. He then got out something what looked like an old photograph. He looked at it with his face blank. She tried to see what he was looking at, but she guessed that it might be the woman who put him to jail. He noticed her curious look and pushed off the windowsill, walking some steps towards her bed. Looking up from the picture, he held out his hand.

"That's Helen," he merely said.

Alice took the photograph and looked at the girl. They really looked a bit alike, the girl on the photo had long blond hair that looked as messy as Alice's, she also had this look on her face that stated "Fuck you!" – and that was how Alice often felt.

She looked up at Seamus who met her gaze, and gave him the picture back. He took it and, while doing so, ran his index finger absentmindedly over her palm on which the picture lay. Alice felt a shiver running down her spine as he did so. She quickly looked away and secretly praised the darkness - for she felt her cheeks turn crimson.

Seamus put the photograph back into his pocket and turned away from her bed. She heard him breathe in slowly. Before she knew it, she stood up from her bed and walked to him, not exactly knowing why. Just standing beside him, she slowly followed his gaze out of the window. He didn't seem to notice her as he inhaled sharply when he looked around and saw her that close.

She suddenly stumbled backwards, for no reason at all tripping over her own feet. _Clumsy should be her second name_. But it happened too quickly to even think about how stupid she was acting again, too quickly even to realize that she was falling. But before she could hit the bed frame, Seamus caught her just in time. His hands closed around her waist and their eyes met in a mixture of confusion, surprise and fear. He lifted her up slightly and sat her down on the edge of her bed, withdrawing his hands slowly. She looked up at him, feeling rather distracted by those dark eyes that stared at her. She didn't know what was wrong with her. _Why did this guy have such an effect on her?_

She quickly shook her head to get rid of these thoughts – and was suddenly reminded of her condition by a terrible headache. A deafening noise rushed through her head and she felt herself tumbling – and the next thing she knew was how she leaned against Seamus's chest. Her hands dangled loosely at her sides, but her face was pressed against his skin. She swallowed, trying to move, but her legs seemed to neglect their functions.

She then felt his hands grabbing her upper arms, pushing her gently away from his chest. She looked up at him, biting her lip, trying to look as cool as she could, but her brain was drumming against her skull so that it was extremely hard to even think straight. She just noticed the slight grin on his lips and that he pushed her back onto her bed.

She opened her mouth to speak but before she could even find anything to say, he turned around and propped his arms onto the windowsill, staring into the night. She closed her mouth again and looked around the dark room. _Damn_. She felt so out of place right now. _Stupid_. _This was just weird_. She should stop thinking immediately, it was only making it worse! Closing her eyes, she leaned back and tried to breathe calmly. _Breathe… breathe… breathe…_ As she opened her eyes again, she directly stared into the lean face of the guy, who – as she knew now – would drive her crazy. She backed up in surprise, swallowing hard.

"I've been thinking," he told her.

"Um, about what?" she replied, looking at him puzzled.

"I'm not waiting for that delicious breakfast they will offer us next morning," he said, before straightening up again, his expression thoughtful, his hands resting on the bed frame.

"So … ?" she asked, completely not understanding what he wanted to tell her.

"I'm going now," he said and walked over to his bed, grabbing his shirt from the chair that was standing beside it.

"_Now_?"

"Yeah, now," he repeated, pulling the shirt over his head, gathering his other belongings in a hurried matter.

"So… why are you telling me this?" Alice asked, staring at him.

"Because you're going with me," he merely said.

"I'm _what_?" she blurted out.

He turned to her and grinned. "Well, you know, I just can't let you go like this. You might turn every word I said against me…"

"Excuse me?" she went on, staring at him as if he had gone mental.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Don't mind me," he said. "I'm not kidnapping you or anything. But I assume that I'm right in thinking that you don't want to stay here either…"

"Well, _yes_, I mean, no, no, I hate this place, but –" she stammered. "But I'm leaving tomorrow. I think I'll survive this night…"

"You _think_?"

"What _are _you thinking? Just because we had some talk or whatever, I'll merely follow you _everywhere_? I'm neither afraid nor fond of you or so, why do you think I'll go with you? This is _insane_. You must really think of yourself as the greatest whatsoever! This is –"

But she never stated what it was, as he had walked over to her bed and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up to him, so that she was only inches away from him. He looked down at her, his expression calm and highly amused. She stared at him with her mouth open, trying to read in his eyes what he was up to.

"Listen, missy," he whispered, still holding her wrist. "I'm not usually doing this. I usually don't even care about girls like you. But I feel that you are different. Mind you, I'm just asking you to _maybe _join me, I'm not forcing you! I just thought you might want to come with me, I'd like to show you some places that are better than this darn hospital. So, do you mind?"

She still stared at him, her expression changing from angry to confused to completely taken aback.

"You mean, like –"

"No," he answered her unsaid question. "No date. No whatsoever! I thought you might want to have some fun. You definitely look like a girl who likes to party…"

"You should definitely take a closer look at those who surround you," she whispered, even though his plan sounded too good to be true in her ears. Yet she was still looking for a catch.

"You mean, I judged you wrong?"

"Well, I – I like to party and… but you can't expect me to leave this place with a guy like you."

"A guy like me?"

"The _bad guy_. The old bad guy. The old bad guy with that powerful Irish family behind him. That family that can blow up my house if I'm not doing what they want…"

Seamus looked at her, a smirk on his lips. "First: you said I'm not old –"

"But you are!" she tried to grin as fearlessly as possible.

"Second: I thought you were not afraid of me or my family?"

"I'm not, but your family definitely is able to do something like that, right?"

"If you think so," he merely said.

"Yeah, I _do _think so. You can't tell me you're the type of guy who is not up for some action, revenge or even murder. I mean, what you've told me about that woman –"

"You might be right, I might blow up your house if you'll tell anyone about what I told you!"

She frowned.

"Just kidding," he then said, smiling down at her. "So, yeah, you're right. I'm not trustworthy or harmless or whatsoever. I don't expect you to come with me. I don't expect anything from you. I'm just asking you."

"You never asked me," she said, staring up at him. "You just told me that you are asking me but you never actually … asked me."

He grinned. "Would you like to come with me?"

She replied his grin. "I'd love to!"

* * *

** Disclaimer: Seamus still belongs to CA:FT, Alice is still all mine.**

_** Alright, we passed phase one, going over to phase two... read on and find out where Seamus takes Alice to!**_

**Thanks for reading! **


	5. Trouble Shooter

**Malice in Paradise**

_**Chapter Five - Trouble shooter**_

Seamus looked down at that girl that he just invited to come with him – to wherever that was. _What was he thinking?_ He didn't know her, and besides that fact, she was only sixteen and he was just about to kidnap this teenager – even if it was on her will, he shouldn't do this._ What has he been thinking?_ She was too young! She was half his age, she was underage for God's sake! And now he, the old bad guy, was taking her out in a fashion. _What was he thinking?_ He wasn't thinking at all. He was motioned by his feelings, these feelings that he had thought to be dead.

But they weren't. They were still there, slumbering deep inside of him. And this girl might have awoken at least some of them. He kicked himself mentally for doing this and yet he hold out his hand and waited for her to grab it. She did so. She was willing to come with him._ She wanted it._ He wasn't forcing her or anything. It was on her will. She wanted it. She really did. He could see it in her eyes that looked at him as if he was some kind of…

He didn't know what he was in her eyes but he knew that this girl had some kind of spark in those deep eyes that showed him that he either was about to do something very stupid or that he would actually enjoy her company. He definitely was about to find out. Grabbing her hand, he left the room with her, walking slowly down the corridor, past the empty reception, out of the building and onto the dark streets. _How easy it was to get here... _He was still holding her hand when they approached his favourite pub.

* * *

"Wow!" she gasped, staring at the giant clover over the entrance. "A _real _Irish pub!"

"That's what it's supposed to be," he replied, watching her stunned expression, unable to stop smiling.

"Wow," she repeated. "I've never seen this… from the inside."

He looked down at her and grinned. "Well, you're about to."

"You mean," she said, stammering, looking up at him. "We're actually going IN there? I mean, **I** can really go inside?"

He laughed. "Of course."

"You mean, they will actually LET **me** inside?"

"Believe it or not, you will not wait outside whereas I'm getting drunk…"

_"They _won't let me inside," she murmured, looking at the two bouncers near the entrance, who were really angry looking and definitely double her size.

"They will. The owner's my cousin and those guys outside are the brothers of my aunt's husband's friend."

Alice stared up at him. "My, your family's… impressive!" she said with a smirk.

He just grinned down at her and nudged her gently towards the entrance.

"Seamus!" he was welcomed by the two big men.

"Boys!" he said in reply, greeting them how men greeted each other.

"You're finally out of hospital, pal?"

"Fixed and still breathing!" he said. "How's inside?"

"The usual. Hey, we've missed you, mate. Come on right in –" said the man standing left to the entrance.

"Oh and you're already got yourself a lass!" interrupted the other man.

"Were those part of the hospital's recovery program?"

Seamus laughed and shook his head. "No, she's my… hostage," he said with a smirk at Alice who just looked at him, feeling a little restless and out of place.

"Hostage, huh?"

"Life's going on, mate, life's going on," said the other man to the one to the left.

"Good old Seamus!"

"Hostage?" Alice whispered as they went past the two men, entering the pub.

"Couldn't think about anything else," Seamus admitted, grinning at her.

"_Great…_" she hissed. "What about… maybe… date?"

"Date?" he replied, stopping near the bar. "I thought you were the one who didn't want to call this a date?"

"I was but I also made clear that this was no _kidnapping _either!"

"Well, how do we call it then?"

Alice locked eyes with him. "Something in between…"

"Like … _spontaneous encounter_?"

"Yeah, something like that!"

"Alrighty, my spontaneous encounter, what about a cool Guinness?" he asked, motioning her to sit at the bar next to him.

"A… Guinness?" she asked slowly. "You mean like beer? Like… alcohol?"

Seamus laughed at her expression. "Oh I see, this night will be interesting…"

"Don't make fun of me just because I –"

"Never drank alcohol?"

Alice nodded, looking around a bit shy. _What had she got herself into? _

* * *

Seamus chuckled, throwing her a gentle smile before he turned to the bartender. "Hey Connor, give us two Guinness!"

The bartender nodded and poured them two beers. Alice looked at it a little confused but quickly joined Seamus who was already gulping down his beer. He watched her over the top of his glass and soon witnessed how the I-never-drank-alcohol-before-girl turned into a bartender's favourite costumer. He didn't know how much beer she had, but when she suddenly jumped off her seat, stumbling clumsily over her own feet and almost falling over if she hadn't grabbed the edge of the bar just in time, there he knew that she had had enough.

He watched her as she began to move to the sound of the crappy radio that played in the background, dancing with her eyes closed, her movements smooth in spite of her drunken condition. He knew that song, it was ringing a bell in the back of his head and yet he couldn't remember it. It seemed like something from his past...

"Damn, I hate Bon Jovi, they sound so… _crappy,"_ he heard Alice's voice from right beside him. She was standing next to him, her hands resting on his arm, her eyes staring rather unfocused up to him. "But I must say, if you are… I mean… this Guinness makes me kind of like them… and this song…" she stammered, before she closed her eyes, turned away from him and began dancing again. _"Ohhhhh we're halfway there… ohhhhh ohh we're living on a prayer…_" she began singing along with the radio, while moving rather gracefully.

And suddenly, while watching her singing and dancing, Seamus remembered. He knew that song from a night, eight years ago. It had been on the radio when he and Helen had been driving around and – it had been playing when he had shot that stupid guy. That song reminded him of the night Helen had turned him into prison. _Fuck_.

He turned away from Alice and shook his head slightly, gulping down another swig of Guinness. It was then that he heard loud voices over the noise of talking people, crappy music and Alice singing along with Bon Jovi. He looked to the entrance and saw it just in time. Three uniformed men pushed past the arguing security guys, entering the pub.

Police. _Another fuck_!

He got up from his seat and quickly walked to Alice who was dancing past tables and amused looking guests. The song hit its second chorus with Alice singing along. _"Ohhhhh we're halfway there… Ohhhhh ohh we're living on a prayer…_"

"Take my hand", he said, his hands trying to grab her, his eyes focused on the policemen looking around the crowded pub.

Alice looked at him, still moving to the music. "Hey you know the lines!" she said with a happy smile.

"Yeah, seems like it," he replied not really listening. He then grabbed Alice's hand and shoved her in front of him towards the back door leading out of the pub.

"Where are we going?" she tried to say with a confused gaze but he already nudged her out of the pub so her question was lost in the movement.

The sudden silence pressed on his ears. He looked around the dark alley, trying to see another source of disturbance. He had grown so sensitive when it came to police, he sometimes thought he would go crazy every time he'd see a police car. _It was disturbing._ Even more disturbing was the look on Alice's face.

She stared up at him, her eyes blurry and yet as straight as they possibly could be after having drunk countless Guinness.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice nothing but a whisper, fear vaporing along the words.

"I –" he began, before he reconsidered his answer and smiled down at her. "I was getting bored of that place!"

She eyed him suspiciously.

"What about I'll bring you home now?"

She kept on staring at him.

"I'll take that as a yes," he then said and pulled her along with him through the dark alley.

They just reached the end of the alley when he heard someone call his name.

"O'Grady!"

He stopped in his tracks. The same second that he turned around, he nudged Alice against the nearest wall. "Go!" he yelled at her and quickly walked away from her towards the middle of the alley, where he could make out three shadows coming closer.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alice move and just wanted to tell her to get away, when the first bullet whizzed past his left ear. He ducked just in time and threw himself instinctively behind some trash bins. He could hear Alice scream the moment he hit the wall. He turned around to look at her when the next shot whipped the air. He got to his feet quickly, deciding that he wouldn't make it against three armed men alone.

He stumbled towards the spot where he had heard Alice scream and found her hiding behind a pile of old furniture. He grabbed her hand and silenced her by putting his other hand over her mouth. She was shaking visibly, every last trace of being drunk gone. She stared at him in shock but didn't protest, when he pulled her with him out of the dark alley, bullets hitting the walls seconds after they passed them.

Reaching another street, Seamus nudged Alice towards another alley where he shoved her up a half down fire ladder, helping her climbing the stairs by motioning her forwards with his hands put in her hips. They reached the rooftop of the building and ran along the edge towards the next roof. Before jumping down onto another roof, Seamus stopped shortly in his tracks and looked over his shoulders. No bullets came crossing their way. He looked back at Alice who stared at him, fear written all over her pretty face with droplets of sweat running along her temples. Strands of her blonde hair were taking her vision. He absentmindedly reached up and pushed them out of her face with a short movement of his hand.

He then took her hand and pulled her with him, letting himself fall down almost two feet onto the other roof. They continued running down the platform before they reached another ladder. Climbing it down, they suddenly heard the horn of an incoming ship. The harbor. _Thank goodness! _Seamus pulled Alice further on until they reached the broad path leading onto the nearest ship. Running past huge containers, they finally stopped next to a small gap that was leading to the inside of the ship.

Seamus leant against the nearest container and looked around, whilst Alice collapsed onto the ground. She stared up at him, her chest moving fast, her breath whistling in her lungs.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Alright?", she repeated, sitting up, panting. "You ask me if I'm _alright_? Hell, no! I'm far away from being alright! I had so much fun in the pub before you decided to run away from some fucking lunatics SHOOTING at us! And then I had to run all the way to this fucking ship, my lungs hanging _elsewhere_, and you ask me if I'm _alright_?"

Seamus watched her, grinning, before he got down on his knees in front of her. "I'm sorry," he whispered, locking eyes with her.

"And you think that'll do?" she replied defiantly, crossing her arms in front of her chest, still staring at him with her expression as angry as possible.

"I guess no," he said, sitting down next to her.

"What had I been _thinking _in coming with you? I must have been out of my fucking mind! I don't know you and you don't know me and all I know about you is that you're some fucking Irish mobster who loves to get in trouble, being followed by people shooting at him and –"

He silenced her by putting his hand under her chin, turning her head around so that she was looking directly at him. He watched her swallow hard, her eyes moving from left to right and back as if she was examining every inch of his face.

"And what?" he whispered.

"And –" she tried to say, her voice almost cracking up. "And who's kidnapping underage girls to make them drunk…"

He grinned. "You forgot that I haven't kidnapped you, you came with me – as you said yourself – and you were supposed to be my spontaneous encounter…"

"Well, your _spontaneous encounter _thinks that it sucks to be chased by shooting lunatics…"

"Does it really suck?"

"Yeah, it sucks to be almost hit by a goddamn bullet!"

"And does it suck to jump off roofs?"

"Yes!"

"And to hide on a ship?"

"God, yeah!"

"And does it suck to be the company of a bad guy?"

"Well…" That seemed to catch her a little off guard.

"Does it suck to be with me?"

She stared at him. Before he knew it or even before he could stop himself, he leaned forwards and planted his lips on hers. It was a short kiss and yet it woke up a feeling that he thought he had lost many years ago.

* * *

**Disclaimer: Seamus belongs to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the song "Livin' on a Prayer" belongs to Bon Jovi (the lines Alice is singing are the following: **

**Ohhh we're half way there  
Ohh ohh! We're livin' on a prayer  
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear  
Ohh ohh! We're livin' on a prayer!), **

**Alice belongs to my imagination.**

_**And a little warning ahead; the following chapters might consist of more mature themes. Just a side note.**_


	6. Irish Flavor

**Malice in Paradise**

_**Chapter Six – Irish Flavor**_

As soon as his lips touched hers, Alice felt a cold shiver running down her spine. She tried to enjoy it but something told her to better end this. _Quickly_. So she got up, _too quickly_, knocking her head against the edge of the nearest container. Blinded by a terrible headache, she tumbled forwards. And before she knew it, she fell against a rusty railing. Blinking, she tried to focus on where she was, feeling Seamus approach her slowly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice seemingly far away.

"Nothing," she whispered. "Nothing, I'm… I'm sorry… I –"

Before she could finish, there was a loud crack and suddenly the railing let out a noisy squeak, slowly moving towards the edge of the ship. Alice let out a little shriek and tried to grab something else that could stop her from falling. But the next second, the railing broke away entirely and she already fell over the edge towards what happened to be cold and deep dark water. Her heart stopped.

But she never reached the bottom.

Seamus had gotten hold of her ankle and had caught her just in time. She dangled at the side of the ship, her body upside down, her head aching with all its might. Her breath stuck in her throat. She was even unable to scream or tell Seamus that he should pull her up. She felt cold.

The moment Alice felt panic rising inside of her by the sight of the height she was hanging at, Seamus pulled her up by her foot. He actually pulled her up as if she was some kind of doll, he didn't seem to put any effort into it. When she finally felt solid ground under her feet again, she leapt forwards and got hold of him, shaking badly and unwilling to get near the edge again.

He lazily put an arm around her and sighed.

"You know," she whispered against his chest. "I hate ships."

He just grinned and tilted his head to look at her. She replied his gaze and smiled up at him.

"Oh, and by the way," she whispered. "Thanks for… saving me," she added with a smirk.

"Anytime," he replied and let go of her, taking her hand slowly. "What about I'll show you some nicer places?"

She looked at him, her eyes examining his face. "No more ships?"

"No more ships", he said, grinning.

"And… will there be more Guinness?"

He chuckled. "For the protocol: that was your idea," he said, pulling an arm around her. She watched him, smirking, and leaned against him, while he headed to the bridge that had led them onto the ship.

„Hell yeah, show me what it's like to be the girl of a bad guy!" she said when they left the ship and walked along the harbour's edge. There was something about him that made her calm down immediately, even forget her near-death experience.

He grinned down and took her into the darkness.

* * *

When they reached the end of the harbor, where pieces of old barbwire fences stuck in the ground like long forgotten soldiers and where they could almost feel the spray of the ocean, Seamus stopped in his tracks, making Alice almost trip over a small hill of finest sand.

She looked around confused, seeing nothing but shadows, hearing only the water breaking against the shore. She took a deep breath of fresh ocean air and looked up at Seamus who – to her surprise – watched her with an awkward smile.

"What is it?" she asked.

But he didn't reply and only took her hand and motioned her through a hole in the barbwire fence towards the ocean. She suddenly felt something rushing through her veins as if she had been hit by lightening. She watched that man, who held her hand, very closely and somehow felt connected to him. He wasn't a stranger anymore, even though she has known him for less than 12 hours, he felt familiar, like someone she knew from her past, someone she had forgotten. She had no idea had he felt the same about her.

Being that near to the ocean, the horizon not even imaginable, made Alice shiver and she was glad that Seamus held her hand. His warmth, however, made her feel awkward too. It all came too unexpected, and it felt new to her.

"You know," he said in that thick accent that made her smile. "I don't usually do this."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of replying, he turned to her, pulled his strong arms around her and held her close to his body. They locked eyes and Alice couldn't think of anything but the cheesiest comment ever: '_This must be heaven!_'

"I don't usually do this to girls like you. That is to say, I hadn't had such a great time with a girl like you for a very long time now. I –" he broke up and quickly looked away, before he turned back to her and smiled. "Darn, let's make it short!" he then said and leaned down to kiss her.

His lips touched hers, his arms pulled her closer – and all she could do was to be held by this incredible guy. She felt his lips caress the corners of her mouth, before his tongue found the way between her lips and soon met hers. Their tongues fought, their lips touched - and before Alice knew it, she pulled her arms around Seamus and closed her eyes – to totally fall for the Irish charm of her opponent.

* * *

Seamus shut down his mind, thoughts and doubts, and just leaned in to kiss this girl that made him feel strangely at ease. After all these years of thinking about hate and revenge, he totally forgot about what else he needed in life. Even though he never was an emotional guy, he had felt something, inside his heart, eight years ago, the day Helen had betrayed him. The loud noise of his breaking heart never seemed to fade away.

And now, looking at and feeling this girl in his arms, he knew the echo would finally fall silent.

* * *

When they broke away again, Alice felt rather breathless. Looking up at him, she tried to read in his eyes what he was thinking. But he merely looked at her, his expression kind but blank. Even though she still felt the sensation that his kiss caused inside of her, she also got a feeling of cold. _What if she was just some girl on his road? Some girl that he would forget about soon after? Some girl that he played around with?_

As if he could read her mind, he bent down and kissed her cheek, before he whispered into her ear: "Do you think," he began, "whoever awaits your return by tomorrow morning, would mind if I'll take you home a little… later?"

He leant back and grinned at her whilst she just stared at him.

"You mean …?" she stammered, still staring at him, swallowing hard.

"Whatever you think I mean, dear," he replied and pulled her closer to him so that her face was gently pressed against his chest. Her gaze wandered to the ocean. Sighing, she gave in. Shutting down all her doubts and cogitations, she thought about when she might get another opportunity like this. _Probably never._ If you got lucky enough to actually meet a guy like Seamus, who actually wants your company, you better stay close to him and never let go again.

She raised her head a bit to look up at him whilst she pulled her arms tighter around his waist. Oh dear. This meant trouble. Big trouble. But she'd never been against trouble. _Trouble was good_. She smiled up at him and leant back against his chest.

"You promised me a Guinness, do you remember?" she said after a while.

"You already got it, dear," he replied.

She wanted to ask when that was, but it was then that he put his hands on her upper arms and held her back a bit. They locked eyes and suddenly she knew that she would become the youngest alcoholic having a life's worth amount of Irish flavor. Even though this didn't mean being drunk all the time, it meant that she would at least experienced the best time of her young life. And on a realistic note, it couldn't get any worse than it was now. It could only get better. Seamus was the proof.

* * *

** A/N: That's how they met. _Read on to find out about what happened then!_**

**Disclaimer: Seamus belongs to CA:FT, Alice belongs to me. Period. **


	7. Addicted

**Malice in Paradise**

**_Chapter Seven – Addicted

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_**

**A/N: Beware of mature content! **

* * *

**Six months later**

"Ahh!" Alice collapsed next to Seamus and let out a silent moan. "Damn, that was… _how _did you do that?"

He looked up at her and grinned. "My Mum told me…"

_"Really_!" she replied and sat up on the floor, staring at the empty plates in front of them. "You must give me the recipe!"

Seamus laughed and grabbed her around the waist to pull her towards him. She sat down on his lap and pulled one arm around his neck, locking eyes with him.

"Do you know," she began, leaning forwards so that their faces were only inches away from one another, "that you have a really bad influence on me? You make me fat with all those things you're cooking!"

He chuckled and leaned in to kiss her, whilst his hand slipped under her shirt, caressing her belly. "Well, I guess a diet would do great on you!"

She stared at him with a faked hurt expression, before her hands closed around his face, her thumbs stroking the lines around his eyes.

"I'll remember that, old man!" she said with a smirk and leaned forward to plant a kiss on his lips which soon after grew into a hungry and passionate kiss, with their tongues wrestling and their hands running down each other's skin.

Breathing hard, she then sank against him with him kissing the top of her head and gently stroking her shoulder blades with his fingers.

"But you **really** have a bad influence on me, Seamus," she whispered against his chest. "Six months and I still feel this sensation inside as if I'm doing something forbidden…"

"But you **are** doing something forbidden and I **am** a bad guy so it's a normal reaction," he said, muttering into her hair, his hands running down her back until their reached the top of her skirt.

"Yeah, I guess," she repeated quietly, her hands slipping under his shirt, feeling his muscled chest. "Damn!" she then stated louder than necessary. "Six months and I still wonder _how _you do _this_!" she added and leaned back to take a closer look at his muscles.

He watched her, grinning. "Well, I'm a _miracle_, girl," he replied and tilted his head.

"Yes, yes you are!" she whispered, without taking her eyes off his chest.

Unaware of what she did, she grabbed the end of his shirt and pulled it above his head. He watched her with curious eyes as she ran her fingers over his tattoos, drawing lines on his chest. She stopped slowly as she reached the tattoo that showed a heart with the word EMPTY in it. She looked at it closely, her fingers stroking the word EMPTY. She then looked up at him, her expression serious and sad. He tilted his head and put a hand on her cheek.

"That's an old one, love," he whispered. "It's no longer empty…"

A smile broke from her lips and she leaned in to first kiss him on the mouth before she caressed his chest, her lips flying over his tattoos, stopping on the heart tattoo. There she planted a kiss that lasted longer and caused him goosebumps. His hands grabbed her arms and pulled her up again. She threw one leg around him and now sat on his lap with one leg on each side of his body. Her fingers ran up his chest and she leaned in to kiss the hollow of his throat whilst he breathed in the scent of her hair, his hands finding the bottom of her shirt, which he then pulled over her head as soon as she stopped kissing him.

She looked into his eyes and fell again for everything that he was about. He was perfect. _This was perfect._ And there was no way she would ever change this. _She was his._ Only his. And she loved being his. Whatever she was to him, whatever she might be called, it didn't matter to her. She owed him, he made her life worth living. She just wanted to be his, wanted to be kissed by him, hugged by him, held by him, loved by him.

And she now knew that being loved had many facets, more than she had been thinking about before.

* * *

While Alice clung onto him, her arms pulled tight around his neck, her legs around his waist, her lips caressing every inch of his face, he pulled her up, walked her to his bedroom and lay her down on his bed like a fragile doll. He met her confused gaze when he didn't join right away, before reconsidering and climbing the bed to lie down next to her.

She quickly clung onto him again, kissing him hungrily, but he held her back a bit and whispered: "I have to make a call, dear," he began, meeting her hurt expression. "I'll be back as soon as possible, I swear. Just business, you know…"

She knew and she couldn't stand it; he knew that by simply watching her lips twitch a little. He leaned in to kiss her passionately before he left the bed and walked out of the room, not without throwing a last gaze at her, smiling. She watched him with a mixture of annoyance, disappointment, despair and sorrow. _Poor thing_. She was addicted to him. He really had made her an alcoholic, addicted to the best kind of Irish flavor ever possible. He felt a bit sorry for her but on the other hand didn't care at all. She was his, she knew it, he knew it, they both knew it and they both accepted the way it was. He knew she would never object.

She knew that there were things in his life that were a bit more important than she could ever be – even though she now owned half his heart. When she first agreed to come with him, that night in the hospital, six months ago, she knew what she was about to do. _It had been her choice. _And there hadn't been many occasions that she actually complained about the way it was. Every time she was with him, she smiled and laughed and showed him how thankful she was. And he knew that she meant it.

Feeling her next to him, gave him a feeling of strength and power and yet he just wanted to be good to her, feel her, love her. Love her the way he had taught her to. He loved her; she made him feel at ease with the world. When he kissed her, stroked her, felt her, looked at her, she was Alice, the girl that fell for him with every fiber of her being. But when he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift away, she felt like Helen. Then, she _was _Helen.

At first it felt weird to him to not only see but also feel Helen around him again, but he soon realized that this girl was more than Helen could have ever been to him. This girl loved him and this girl would never betray him. This girl was only his. When he first laid hands on her, he had felt that she was something special. And he wouldn't let go of her too soon. Maybe never. Maybe she was now bound to him, forever his. Forever the girl that made him want to feel the world again.

Leaving the room, letting her behind for a while, he turned to his other obsession; taking his cell phone, dialing the number automatically, stating orders as if he was listing the ingredients of his mother's most famous recipe, listening to the news the other end had to offer, smiling about the way his plan developed, sensing that this might be ending soon. He sighed when he put down the cell phone and leaned against the desk in his study, closing his eyes, breathing in everything around, before he pushed off the desk and walked back into his bedroom where Alice lay on his bed, half naked and willingly as usual.

He smiled at her when she raised her head as he entered the room. She watched him, her expression blank. When he sat down on the edge of the bed, one hand running up the inside of her thigh, she tilted her head and there it was again; the spark inside her eyes that almost screamed at him. Wanting him to touch her. He crumbled on top of her, his body weight resting on his arms, his eyes examining every inch of her face. She bit her lip when he came closer.

"You have no idea how bad I want you right now," he whispered into her ear. "I never wanted you more!"

* * *

Alice sighed, her eyes still closed, when he fell down next to her. She turned her head to look at him, a satisfied smile on her lips. He replied her smile with his own smirk, his hand running down her throat whilst her hand wandered across the sheets towards his chest. She felt his heart beat against her hand as she rested it on top his empty-heart tattoo. She closed her eyes again and crawled nearer to him. He pulled one arm around her and she cuddled against his sweaty body.

She'd never felt that good before. Well, maybe the last time he had said he never wanted her more. Or the time before. Screw that, she _always_ felt great when he gave her his full attention. She breathed against his chest, shivering slightly. She felt how he pulled up the bed sheets and covered their bodies with it. While one arm held her close to his chest, he ran the hand of the other one over her equally sweaty skin until he found her hand, hooking his fingers into hers, holding her hand as if he would never let go of her again.

She soon fell into some of the sweetest dreams she'd only experienced when she was with Seamus. He was like a drug, making her feel as if she could fly, making her smile when there's a reason to cry, making her want more and more of him - and yet he could nevertheless hurt her, even though he would never do it on purpose. But every time he turned away from him, her heart screamed out loud, not wanting him to leave.

Damn. _Yeah_. She was addicted and knew that he had a bad influence on her and made her cling onto him as if there was nothing else. But she didn't care. As long as she could be with him, feel him, love him, as long as he wanted her to stay, she wouldn't come off this drug. He had given her life some purpose. Every minute she spent with him would take away an hour of long forgotten distress. She owed him, she knew that. It didn't matter. When she was around him, there was nothing else to think about. There was nothing else. Yet it was harder and harder every day that she had to leave his house to go to school or shortly visit her family (meaning her poor little brother) at home who she had been neglecting ever since. But they were the last ones who would care about this. They didn't care about anything that mattered in Alice's life.

And the most important part of her life now and for the last six months had been Seamus O'Grady and if she would ever tell anybody about that little fact that she was not only dating but loving an Irish mobster, not only she but everyone knowing about it would find a sudden end. She knew about this threat even though Seamus never told her. But seeing this guy every day, living with him, knowing about his failures and his so-called business, knowing about his past, she also knew that there were many things unsaid between them. She knew about his business. She knew that he was working at the harbor in some shipping company. It was clear to her that his job was only fake. She didn't exactly know what he was doing instead, but she was sure it wasn't legal.

But she didn't care. She didn't care what he was doing as long as she could be with him and get his full attention. Even though she knew (but would never admit it) that her relationship to him was more or less physical (as there were spending most of their together time in bed), she was there when all he needed was someone to feel and to love, she was one of his ways to cope with what he had been going through. One way was to beat the shit out of someone or something (she knew about his anger problems even though she never experienced his rage ever since, but she saw the bruises on his skin and the blood on his clothes), another way was to love her until she would be unconscious. Although he was a bad guy and had a bad influence on her and even had a bad reputation, she couldn't help it but be a little proud about being his personal free time activity. As long as his hands caressed her skin, as long as his lips met hers, as long as she could feel him all over her body, she was actually happy.

She'd never been happier before. He had made her a completely different person. A person she never knew existed inside of her.

* * *

Seamus felt how Alice sank into sleep, leaning against his chest. He sighed silently, resting his chin on top of her head. Closing his eyes, he tried to find some sleep as well, yet knowing that he couldn't shut down entirely. Being in prison for more than eight years, had changed his entire waking and sleeping rhythm. The last time he had slept without expecting someone to burst into his room, feeling that something was wrong, knowing that there were things outside that took away his sleep, the last time he actually allowed himself to fall asleep had been eight years ago, when he had thought, Helen would have been the one and only, the one he could trust.

But he had been betrayed and with that, someone had killed his desire and his ability to shut down. So he only lay still, trying to find some rest and inner peace, but never drifting away entirely. Even though he didn't expect Alice to betray him like Helen did, he was aware that there were other things in the world, that could destroy what he had been building up the last six months. _Don't trust anyone. Never._ He opened his eyes again and looked around the dark bedroom. Of course they were alone. Of course his paranoia made him think that all bad (and good for that matter) was against him. Of course he was wrong about not trusting anyone.

He trusted Alice. The last six months that she had been with him almost every night and day, those six months proved to him that she was trustworthy and not even that: she was doing everything he asked her to. When he first met her in the hospital, he'd never imagined her to be that devoted. He'd grown some kind of obsession for her, it was harder every day to not be with her. At first he thought that might be a problem, but soon he got used to her devotion and made her become a part of his life. She was his. Period.

Closing his eyes again, he waited for the morning to come. When he felt as if he had been lying there for hours, he threw a quick glance at the alarm clock on his nightstand. Almost 5 AM. Time for his daily working out. He must keep Alice fascinated by his muscles and he had to sweat out the desperation that his other obsession caused him. _It mustn't take over him entirely_. He had to be focused when, after all that planning, the action part would come.

He slowly got up from bed, shoving Alice gently away from him, covering her beautiful body with the bed sheets. Before he started gathering his clothes from the ground, he took a long glance at Alice's sleeping form. For so long the sight of her had calmed him down. He quickly leaned over her to brush his lips against her forehead, before he left the bedroom heading to the bathroom and later left the house to take a run around the neighborhood.

* * *

Alice awoke drowsily. Sunbeams danced around the room and she could hear cars and voices from outside the window. She rolled to the other side and stretched out one hand to maybe touch Seamus – but she knew that he wouldn't be here anymore. He always got up early, running around the block or doing whatever he had to do. She opened her eyes and looked around unfocused. Wiping her eyes, she sat up and pulled the bed sheets around her naked body. The room was empty besides herself, the curtains only half covering the windows, the sun shining on the bed, leaving her half blinded, half feeling like a heavenly creature, surrounded by light. _Like an Angel._

She shook her head, chuckling. Angel. Ha. Everything _but _an Angel. What she was doing here, with Seamus, she knew, if she would believe in God like he did, she would burn in the eternal flames of Purgatory. Hell, she couldn't care less. Grinning to herself, she got up from bed.

"What are you grinning about?" she heard his voice from the door, which almost made her jump.

"Seamus! You scared me!" she said and threw him a smile.

He entered the room and pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry," he whispered and leaned in to kiss her. "So, what have you been grinning about? Nice dreams?"

"Yeah, something like that," she said and leaned against him, her chin pressed against his chest. He smelled like ocean. Looking up at him, she examined his face. "Can I ask you something?" she asked, her voice a bit shaky. She knew that asking what she was about to ask was a thorny thing to talk about.

"Anything, love," he replied, kissing her quickly.

"Well, I was wondering", she began and leaned back a bit. "You believe in God –"

"Yes, I do, so what?"

"Well, um, I don't really know how I should say it, I –"

"Just say it," he whispered, locking eyes with her.

"I – I was wondering, do you expect to come to… um, Heaven when you die?"

He stared at her, before a grin broke from his lips. "You mean after _all those things_ that I have done?"

She nodded, feeling slightly uneasy.

He chuckled, pulling her closer to him. "That's why I go to Church every Sunday," he said.

"And that's it?"

"That's it. I'm Catholic, as you might know. And I believe that, if I regret my deeds and pray for my sins to be forgiven, there is a fair chance for me to get to Heaven."

"And you really want to get there?" she asked and soon afterwards regretted it. "I mean, I think it's boring there, with all those nice and boring people who did everything right in their lives –"

He watched her, laughing. "What about breakfast?" he changed the topic and leaned in to kiss her.

"I am king of starving!" she admitted, glad that he had changed the topic.

"Alright, search yourself some clothes and come down, will you?"

"I will," she replied, pulled the bed sheets tighter around her and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "I'll be right there!"

With that she left the bedroom, heading to the bathroom where she had hidden some of her clothes behind the towel cabinet. Although she had spent almost every day and night of the last six months in Seamus's house, there was no actual trace that she really lived here. There were times when she had been with him for two weeks in a row, and there were times when she had to go home every other day because her goddamn stepfather worked at home (and she could only spent the night at Seamus's house when he worked out of town) and it always meant trouble when she was caught leaving the house after her stepfather's self-proclaimed curfew.

She knew that Seamus was quite aware of the fact that he was her savior. He kept her away from the bad things that might happen to her at "home". He was the one who allowed her to spend her time with him. He had saved her and was saving her every night again. He gave her a real home. And she was thankful. And he knew it. Quickly dressing, she went downstairs where he sat at the bar of his kitchen, waiting for her.

She smiled at him when she entered the room, sitting down beside him. Looking around, she saw that he had made her a wonderful breakfast, as usual. There was orange juice and toast, pancakes and salad and so many other things she would never eat for breakfast. He indeed made her fat with his food. And he always made her even more thankful. He was perfect. _Maybe too perfect for her?_ He was not only good-looking (as if that mattered to her), charming, interesting, gentle, funny, influential, he was also an awesome chef, he made her feel at ease, made her laugh, made her feel special, _he was perfect_.

She pulled her arms around him and kissed his earlobe, before leaning her head against his neck.

"I love you," she whispered, breathing against his throat.

He pulled both arms around her, pulling her onto his lap. "Yeah, I know," he said and kissed her.

"And," she said, looking up at him. "I would die for you, Seamus."

He met her gaze and stared at her for a moment as if remembering something. He then shook his head absentmindedly and smiled down at her. "Hell, I know. I know," he whispered, sinking into her eyes.

She replied his smile and leaned against him.

"Thank you," she heard him whisper into her hair.

She looked up and threw him a puzzled look. "What for?"

"Everything," he whispered and kissed her hungrily.

"We're even then," she said after they broke away again.

He grinned and watched her with a rising desire in his eyes.

"Do you have school today?" he asked.

She nodded.

"How about I'll bring you there a little… later?"

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her waist and lightly lifted her up to sit on the counter. While he was already kissing her passionately, he kicked over his bar stool, pushed aside glasses and plates and climbed her without breaking the contact of their lips. Feeling his weight upon her and a fork pinching her shoulder blade, she instantly forgot about school and wondered if she could skip it altogether.

* * *

** A/N: 6 months passed. Enter serious relationship. More or less serious anyways. Let's find the thin border between Alice the love slave and Alice the perfect little girlfriend, huh? _More to come!_**

**Disclaimer: Seamus - CA:FT, Alice - mine.**


	8. Changes

**Malice In Paradise**

_**Chapter Eight: Changes**_

„NO! Forget it, goddammit! I will go wherever and whenever I want to! You're not my father! Stop acting like one!" she screamed and pushed the door closed, leaning against it, breathing as if she had been running. "You're a bad one anyways...," she added silently.

From the other side she could hear her stepfather banging against the door, cursing. She couldn't understand everything he said, but she knew nevertheless. It was always the same about how it was her fault they had to live in such poverty, how it was her fault he had to work harder to feed not only her but her younger brother as well. How it was her fault that he had to drink every night and take his anger out on them. How it was her fault their mother died.

Sometimes she hated her mother for leaving her with this bastard.

She felt tears burning in her eyes when she looked around the neighborhood with all its old and broken houses that almost fell apart if one would look at them too long. _This was Hell._ And if this was Hell, living with Seamus was Heaven. Thinking about him made her feel a little better. Not that she hadn't had arguments with her stepfather before. It was something she had gotten used to over the years. She learned to cope with her stepfather's accusations and the blows and punches he liked to deal out on her. But it was her little brother Mikey she was worried about. Even though he spent most of his time with friends, it were the nights that kept her anxious. She knew he had another relationship with their stepfather - being the men of the house - but she never stopped thinking about Mikey. She hated to leave him alone. But she knew that if she wouldn't be a little selfish and embrace her own freedom, she would soon go insane. Every time her stepfather started over again, the words and gestures and blows cut into her heart, deeper, making the shell she'd grown against it thinner and thinner.

When the first tear ran past the new bruise on her cheek, she pushed off the door and left the house's wild front yard. The more steps she took, the faster she got and the more tears she shed. After she ran several blocks, she suddenly saw something that made her cry even harder, though this time, it wasn't because of misery.

Waiting in front of an old 24/7 store, leaning against the hood of his car, stood Seamus. It was one of the first times he would actually show himself in public with her. She appreciated it. Alice slowed down the last steps and quickly wiped away her tears. But he seemed to have noticed them nevertheless. Pushing off the hood, he came towards her, his expression concerned. He didn't say anything, he neither asked nor talked about her condition. He simply pulled her into a caring embrace. She thankfully closed her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest.

She didn't know how long they stood like this, but all she cared about was how good it felt.

Seamus was the first to move. He laid his hands on her arms and leaned back, watching her. She replied his gaze, trying to smile.

"Do you remember what I told you last time?" he asked and raised a hand to gently brush a finger over her bruise.

"Yes and I still don't think that's necessary. I don't want him to get this kind of attention!"

"But that will solve your problem –"

"No, Seamus. It won't. It will only cause more. And besides, what will happen to my little brother when -?" She didn't finish the thought as it was heavy enough inside her brain. Speaking it out loud would be even harder.

"Could there be any worse place?"

She looked at him and couldn't find any reply. She just stared at him and her lips formed the word "don't". He nodded and raised his other hand to cup her face and wipe away her tears with his thumbs.

"How come you're here?" she asked, as he took her hand and led her to the passenger side of his car. She got in whilst he walked to the other side and got in himself.

"Bad news travels fast, love, I wanted to be close if something happened," he simply said, before starting the engine and driving away.

Again, she felt more than thankful that he was with her – or to be clear, that he was there for her, allowing her to be with him. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, how he drove with his jaw set, his eyes on the road, his hands clutching the wheel that tight his knuckles stood out white against the black of the tattoos on his fingers.

She turned her head a bit and read for what seemed to be the thousandth time the word on his right hand's fingers. _Hate_. Even though she knew how hate felt like, she couldn't imagine the hate that was bottled up inside of him. Her eyes wandered to his face and for an instance, their gazes met and she felt Seamus's stare hitting her with all its might, making her shiver. But he quickly threw her a smile and turned his eyes on the road again. How she wished to know what he was thinking. He seemed to be pissed because of something, she could bet it had something to do with his… business. Damn, she'd die to know what he was dealing with right now. She could only imagine what his business looked like and yet her imagination wouldn't come anywhere close to what he really had to do.

"I have to go," he suddenly said and broke her chain of thoughts.

She stared at him with her mouth open. "What do you mean you have to go?"

"I'll be away for a week, dear," he explained, turning his head to her.

"A week?" she blurted out, suddenly unable to think clearly.

He, her only strength, would leave her for a whole week? They hadn't been a day away from each other for six months now. He really expected her to survive without him?

His hand wandered to the passenger seat and touched her knee gently.

"It's just a week," he said, looking at her, encouraging, before he looked back through the windshield. "You can stay at my house if you'd like to."

"That's …" she stammered, unable to speak either. "I… I don't … I mean…"

His hand ran up her thigh – but before it could run any further, she took hold of it and hooked her fingers into his. He turned to look at her, his gaze suddenly full of sadness and empathy. She tried to throw him a smile, even though she already felt the tears burning in her eyes again. Raising her hand to her lips, she gently kissed the back of his hand.

"It's…" she began, her voice soaked with tears. "It's alright, I'll survive it I guess."

"I'm sure you do," he replied, smiling at her sympathetically. "You are one of the strongest girls I've ever met."

"I hope you're right," she muttered and tilted her head.

"Never question what I say, love," he said with a wink.

She just smiled at him, holding his hand in her lap.

"So when are you leaving?" she asked after a while.

"Tonight."

_"Tonight_? So soon?"

"I am afraid so."

"Hmm."

"Hmm what?"

"Business, right?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Alright."

"You know it's better if you don't know everything."

"Yeah, guess so."

"I promise you, I won't get into trouble," he said, pressing her hand gently.

She turned her head to him and examined his face. Whatever he said, she knew better. After six months of being with him, she knew when he said something just to save her. But she wished not to be saved all the time, she wanted him to be honest with her. First she was happy with him just being with her and with her just being with him. Yet there were times when she wanted more than just a kiss or a hug or whatever physical he could give her. She wanted him to love her the way she wanted. Bringing her addiction onto a wholly new level.

"Alright," she said instead - for she knew that it wouldn't change anything if she said something else. She had to be grateful for what he did and had done for her, how could she claim something else anyway? She kicked herself mentally for demanding more.

He looked at her and nodded. "So you'll stay at my house?"

"I definitely won't go back to him."

"Thought so. It's better that way."

"Yeah, I know…" she said, before she got lost in her thoughts. After a while, she spoke again. "Seamus? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he replied, rather quietly while driving through the crowded streets of Hollywood with his eyes straight ahead.

"I wonder… why did you ask me to come with you six months ago, in the hospital?" she asked, her voice shaking without any reason known to her. While she spoke, a smile broke from Seamus's lips. Without noticing it, she went on. "I mean, you knew that I'm underage, and what if I had someone to pick me up the next day? And how did you know I would come with you? I mean it's –"

"You came, didn't you?" he interrupted her, still smiling.

"Um, yes…"

"So why did _you _come with me?"

She looked at him, impressed on how easy he could switch roles.

"You know I was just looking for a bit of fun," he said. "And maybe someone to accompany me. You were cute, you still are. I had my reasons. You know, I am old and who knows when my end will finally approach me?"

He watched her chuckling slightly at his words.

"So, I had my reasons. What about you? Why did you come willingly with this old man you didn't even know for that long and who was – how you knew – a really bad guy, being in prison, having kicked his ass, belonging to this powerful bad family… why did you agree to come with me?"

She examined his face, her eyes wandering across every inch of it.

"I …" she began, moving in her seat, still holding his hand in hers. "I was –"

She sighed and moved closer to him, slowly running the index finger of her free hand over the bird tattooed on the side of his neck.

"I wanted to be free…" she whispered, drawing the outline of the bird.

He turned his head.

"So are you free now?"

She looked up, locking eyes with him. Instead of answering, she leaned forwards and kissed him, running her hands through his hair. She then rested her head on his shoulder, licking her lips.

"I learned a new definition of freedom," she said smiling.

Kissing her forehead, he pulled his arm around her and drove off to his apartment.

* * *

Seamus watched Alice when they entered the living room, feeling concern rising inside him. She lazily sat down on the couch, quickly cuddling into a more comfortable position, with her arms around her knees. He walked to her and sat down on the edge of the couch.

"Hey," he said quietly, gently stroking her cheek. "What are you planning to do this week without me?"

"Haven't thought about it yet," she replied, looking up at him.

"Learning yet another definition of freedom, perhaps?"

"Don't mock me!" she replied with a smirk, before he slipped down the edge of the couch next to her, pulling her close to him.

"I would never mock you, missy," he said grinning, leaning in soon after to kiss her, with his lips sucking on hers and his tongue wrestling with hers. "Oh dear, I'm going to miss you…" he said after pulling away again.

"You are?" she asked, breathing against his cheek, her hands resting on his chest.

He leaned back a bit and watched her closely in the eye.

"Yes, I'm actually going to miss my little underage girl here."

She grinned at him.

"And I'll miss my old man here," she said, playing with the buttons of his shirt.

"Oh I haven't heard that!" he said, narrowing his eyes, grinning along with it.

"So what are you going to do about it, old man?"

"Shutting you up seems to be a good solution," he replied and quickly dove on to her, tickling her, so that she ended up lying underneath him, laughing with tears in her eyes, her hands helplessly caught under her body.

"Want me to stop?" he asked, looking at her with a mischievous smirk around his eyes.

"P-P-Please!" she uttered barely audible, her voice cracking up.

He then leaned back a bit, watching how her body shook for a last time before she calmed down, panting as if she had been running. His hands found her waist whilst he lay down beside her, squeezing between her and the back of the couch. She cuddled against him, trying not to fall off the rather small couch.

"So?"

"I guess I deserved that…" she muttered, looking up at him.

"And?"

"Will you forgive me for calling an old man an old man?"

His answer made her catch her breath just again. When he finally let go of her, she sank into herself, breathless.

"Alright, alright!" she gave in. "You are not an old man."

"And you are not telling me that because I could tickle you to death if you wouldn't?"

She then got up on one arm and brought herself to his eye level. Eyeing him carefully, her hand crept up his chest and rested on his cheek. Leaning nearer, she breathed against his ear: "You are not old." Kissing his ear, she continued her way across his face, kissing his cheek, until she reached his lips, eventually sucking on his lower lip. "And you know?" she went on, looking up into his eyes, her lips hovering above his mouth. "I love every single wrinkle of yours!"

His hands quickly got hold of her again, but this time she could escape his grip and fell rather clumsily to the ground where she stayed, lying on her back like a helpless ladybug. Looking up at him pretty embarrassed, she tried to threw him a smile. But he merely reached down and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder and carried her upstairs, where she find another resting place: his bed.

When he lay her down again, sitting down next to her, he felt that this would be a rather sad goodbye. He looked at her, and before he could even say anything, she came to her knees and crawled towards him, hugging him from behind. Putting his hands on hers, he merely sighed and closed his eyes for an instant.

"It's only a week…" he said.

"I know," she replied, whispering.

"Seven days and I'm back…"

"Yeah…"

"It's –"

"You said so," she interrupted him and kissed his neck. "And the more you say it, the more I miss you…"

He turned around and pulled her onto his lap. She buried her head in his chest.

"Be a good girl, will you?" he said.

She raised her head and tried to grin at him. "I am always a good girl."

"I know," he said and leaned in to kiss her. "Just wanted to make sure."

He pulled her closer with his arms wrapped tightly around her. Holding her like that, his eyes moved to the alarm clock on the nightstand.

"I have to go," he then said and let go of her.

Her hands rested on his chest, her eyes staring into his. He knew she did it unwillingly, but after a while, she nodded and lowered her hands.

"Take care, love," he said and kissed her, before he got up and walked to the closet to get an already packed bag out of it.

"You too, Seamus," she whispered, still kneeling on the bed the way he left her.

"See you in seven days!" With that he turned to leave.

* * *

She was still kneeling motionless on the bed, as she listened to his footsteps down the hall, out of the door and over the driveway. She heard him open the door of his car and how he got inside. Then the engine roared through the mild afternoon air and with the sound of screeching tires, she knew he was gone. And she already felt lost. It took her several minutes to get up the bed and walk towards the window. Indeed, his car was gone. And she was all alone in his little house by the sea.

Not long after that, she heard a knock on the door.

Her heart missed a beat before she slowly descended the stairs and sneaked soundlessly into the hall to get a look at the person outside. There was another knock. Just as she reached the little window beside the door, there was a voice sounding through, making her blood freeze inside her veins.

"I know you're in there, Alice! Just open up!"

* * *

**_ A/N: _As of today, 04/12/2008, there is a huge change in this chapter called Changes. Originally there was a completely different ending, with Alice making a phone call to somebody unknown, being all, oh, I'm so bad ass and have a secret meanie-plan! BUT I couldn't make it work so I changed that. Alice just isn't that mysterious professional ... yet. It was too soon. So, by now, she is still Seamus's pet and lover and she's still highly fond of him. And maybe that's never changing!  
**

_**But who's that at the door?**_


	9. Family Feud

**Malice in Paradise **

_**Chapter Nine: Family Feud**_

* * *

_**A/N: A little note **before you read this chapter**:**_

_**I advise those of you who have read this story before (meaning the long-time-no-updates-version from 2006) to go and **read it again**. I edited some major things, here and there, story-wise, character-wise, mostly in Chapter Eight. So please, do yourself (and me) a favor and read it again. It also helps to get back into the matter! Thank you and enjoy!**_

_**Oh and a little warning for this very chapter: there'll be some more mature themes at the end, but you're probably already used to that!**_

* * *

_"I know you're in there, Alice! Just open up!"_

Alice froze immediately. Why did this female voice knew her name and why the hell did that woman knew she was _here_, in Seamus's house when there was almost nobody who knew about them? She must have stood motionless for a while, before another knock brought her back and urged her to act.

"Who's there?" she asked, highly aware of how stupid she sounded.

The person on the other side of the door was silenced for a second, before she spoke again. "Could you just open the door?"

She considered the request for a moment or two, not exactly knowing what to do. This wasn't her house. And yet there was someone here who wanted to talk to her. _Talk to her?_ What if it was some evil serial killer pretending to be the nice lady from next door? _Ah please_, she had lived with an Irish mobster for six months, she had seen worse! Paranoia was not an option. Inhaling deeply, she then opened the door.

And was greeted by a charmingly smiling Latina.

"Hi Alice," the black haired woman said.

The younger girl stared rather dumbfounded at her opposite. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?" she asked straight away.

"Probably not, but I know you. And I knew your mother."

That made Alice stare even more. "You knew my mother?"

"I did. She was my sister."

"What?" Alice's head seemed to explode with confusion. Did she hear correctly? "_Who_ are you?"

"I'm Eva Malicia," the woman replied and shot a glance around the driveway as if to check for intruders. Yet the street was hidden by a series of high rose bushes, leaving them out of sight from nosy neighbors and passers-by. "I'm your aunt, Alice."

"That's not possible. My Mom never said anything about a sister."

"That's because she was afraid."

"Afraid? What do you mean by that?"

"You don't seem to know what the name Malicia means, am I right?"

"Of course I know what it means. It's my name as well. But after my Mom died, my stepfather forbade us to use it any longer. I'm Alice Mayer now. The only evidence of my original name is on my ID. It's nothing more. Just a name."

"Do you know why your stepfather forbade you to use it?"

"Let me guess, he was afraid too?"

"Exactly."

"Alright, enough already. What's the matter? Why are you visiting me _here_? How did you know I was here?"

"We've known about your relationship with O'Grady for quite a while now –"

"We?"

"– and we want you to be careful!"

"Excuse me, but who's _we_?"

"Our family, Alice. Your family."

"My family is dead. My only family left is my little brother. There's no one else. And besides, why do you care about my relationship to Seamus?"

"We are concerned. You can't be that naïve to ignore the facts."

"What facts?"

"There's a feud between our family and the O'Gradys. There's ever been. We don't want you to get in trouble."

Of course she knew about the history of her family name. She knew why her stepfather had forbidden them to use their mother's name. It was a bad omen. It had killed her mother.

"I can take care of myself, thank you," Alice replied bitterly. "No one knows my real name, not even Seamus. And I'm not as stupid as you think. I know about all that and I won't get into trouble. Now if you could leave, please…"

"Alice, just be careful, alright?"

The woman who was supposed to be her aunt looked at her with rising concern. Those were two things she didn't need: another family member and someone who was concerned about her. She had enough problems as it were.

"Was that all you wanted to run past me? Or was there actually a reason you came here?"

"Don't be ungrateful, chica –"

"I'm not your chica!"

"Someday you'll learn that having a family behind you can only help you!"

"And I guess it's not that nice vice versa, huh?"

The other woman looked at her, the smile long gone. "Families can be tricky. You'd better choose the right one before it's too late. Your brother already did."

"Mikey?" Alice narrowed her dark eyes at her opposite. "What did you do?"

"Did you actually think we would let him stay with that horrible stepfather of yours? He had had his chance, but he didn't use it. That man failed your mother. Now he had to pay. I can imagine that you wouldn't shed a tear."

The woman named Eva nodded towards the fading bruise on Alice's cheek, whilst Alice stared at her in disbelief. "Did you actually ...?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. Your brother's safe now."

"Just because he's with you? What are you thinking?"

"You shouldn't blame him for wanting a real family."

Alice clenched her jaw. Of course she was glad Mikey wouldn't have to stay with her stepfather anymore. But what did she know about those people that called themselves her family? Just because they had the same name didn't mean they were trustworthy.

"You can always change your mind," Eva said and pulled out a small piece of paper that she handed Alice.

The girl took it and immediately recognized the large M on it. A business card. A Spanish mobster business card (of course the Malicias would never call themselves mobsters, they weren't a gang either, they were a family and what they did seemed of course right. What others thought about them wasn't important. For Alice they were just another party of people who took themselves a little too serious. She thought the same about Seamus's family, even though she couldn't be as objective as she wanted considering her growing love and devotion for him). She couldn't believe it. For so long she had ignored the truth about her heritage. She didn't feel like a Latina and her Spanish was almost non-existent. And suddenly this woman showed up – on the doorstep of an Irish mobster, of a person of the rival gang. What was she really up to?

"What if I don't change my mind?" Alice asked.

"Then I pity you already. The Irish aren't good enough, Alice. Be careful. They are like beasts."

"And if they are beasts, you're… cute little kittens? Come on, you're all the same," she mumbled and rolled her eyes. "Look, thank you for taking care of my brother. I only hope you'll treat him right."

"And I hope you'll think about what I told you. Hiding your real identity isn't the key."

"I'm not hiding anything," Alice replied and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I'm just not running around telling everyone who I am. Like you are. Kind of risky of you to visit me here, on rival territory, isn't it?"

Eva watched her silently for a moment. "Just think about it," she then said and nodded towards the card that Alice was still holding.

"If that'll make you leave, yes, I'll think about it."

The woman tilted her head and turned to leave. "And Alice?"

"What now?"

"There are more reasons than rivalry that'll keep us watching you and that O'Grady, you know?"

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a warning. Don't push it too far." With that the Latin woman left the Irish driveway.

Alice watched her get into a dark car and drive off again. It was then that she could think about what had just happened. So, her brother was with his aunt? The mysterious, suddenly appearing aunt that her mother had never mentioned before? Well, alright, she might be real; Alice knew that her mother's family was big and influential and that she had broken with them when she had married the man that would have become her abusive stepfather.

And did she understand it right? Had the Malicias really taken care of him? In the sense of stopping him beating his stepchildren? Did that mean he was gone forever or was it just another metaphor or gang slang? She didn't know it and she wouldn't want to find out soon. She needed Seamus to make sure Eva was right. Not that he would ever have to know about this weird visit.

Shaking her head absentmindedly, she returned into the safety of the little two-story house and decided to spend her new found free time with doing homework. The beautiful balcony overlooking the nearby beach would be the perfect place for that. She soon forgot about the woman named Eva and the family her last name implied.

The week went past rather quickly. Having school always fast-forwarded time. It was the week-end that made it hard for Alice not to sit around whining and missing Seamus. She suddenly realized that she was a complete loner. She didn't have many friends; and those that she would have called friends seemingly felt neglected by her mental and physical absence over the last six months. For now she didn't have anyone but Seamus. _Oh it felt bad to be that dependent._ But once Seamus was back, she knew she wouldn't complain ever again.

One more day to go. A little over twenty-four hours. It seemed manageable. Yet soon after, she found herself eyeing the card that Eva had given her. She couldn't help but consider visiting her brother at the address printed on the card. Just to make sure everything was alright. Before she could however do anything but stare at the card in her hands, she heard the clicking of a lock.

What the … ? _Could it be? Was Seamus back already?_

In the rush of the moment she forgot about anything else, even the card in her hands that fell noiselessly to the floor, and just ran downstairs into the hall. Yet there was no sign of Seamus. There was, however, another man standing in the doorway, staring at her with his mouth open. She froze immediately and mirrored the stare. Seconds ticked away loudly, before one of them moved. It was, unfortunately, the other man. The moment he broke into a walk towards her, Alice's heart skipped a beat.

_Oh no! A strange man in the house and I'm showing myself so openly! Oh dear! This is bad! This is really bad. How could I've been so stupid? Who is that anyway and why does he have a key and didn't just break into the house? What is he if not a burglar? And why am I not moving? –_ Her mind was racing and she almost wasted time to react as the man came closer and closer with every large step he took. It was the very second he reached out to grab her, as she finally moved. She turned around so quickly, she almost slipped on the floor.

With that she ran up the stairs.

The man followed her. He didn't say anything, he just ran after her, until she reached the top floor and hastily decided where to run next. There weren't that many options and running up the stairs was by far the worst thing she could have done. She then ran into the bedroom and locked the door behind her. Soon she heard someone banging against it from the other side. _Stupid! So what now? Wait until he'll get an axe to smash the door and play a little round of Here's Johnny? Stupid…_ But the knocking stopped.

She waited another minute but couldn't hear anything. Did he leave? Without waiting any longer, she then unlocked the door and took a look outside. Nothing. Which was weird. Alice slowly left the bedroom and descended the stairs again, listening closely to abnormal sounds. She just reached the hall, when she heard the banging of a car door. But it was the arms that wrapped around her that caught her quite off guard. She soon realized that it wasn't a loving hug she might have expected from Seamus, no, it was the kind of embrace that one would get before the lights went out.

But the lights were still on as she was violently pushed against the nearest wall. Stars came into view as pain rushed through her shoulder. Without any time to recover she got lifted up again, just to be thrown against the opposite wall. With that, her involuntary time as human yo-yo ended more or less fortunately as the weird man picked her up by her hair and pulled her close to him in the most brutal way. She felt kind of reminded of her first encounter with Seamus.

"Who are you?" the man then asked, his thick accent bouncing inside her ear. "And what are you doing in my brother's house?"

_Wait! What? Brother?_ Alice's mind began to race again. But with the painful grip the man held her close to him plus the upcoming questions and the opening of the door, she felt highly stressed out. It was a familiar voice that made the fog clear.

"Hey! Let her go for God's sake, Colin!"

But the brother named Colin didn't move one of his many visible muscles. Alice, however, already felt relieved as Seamus entered the hall and laid eyes on her.

"Let her go, I said!" he repeated towards the other man.

"Who the fuck is that?"

"It's Alice, you mug!"

"Alice?" the man repeated and turned her around a little, still clutching her neck like a wild animal would hold his prey. "Oh, you mean your little –"

"Enough already, let her go!" With that Seamus slapped the back of his brother's head who immediately released her.

She stumbled a little, rubbing her neck absentmindedly, before she recovered rather quickly and jumped into action the next second. And jumping meant jumping, as she jumped right into Seamus's arms who caught her with an "Oof!" and momentarily was knocked out of breath. He also seemed to wince in pain as she cuddled against his chest with her arms tightly around his neck. For a second she forgot everything around. It was as Seamus set her down again, that she looked up at him with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" she then asked. "Weren't you suppose to come back tomorrow?"

"And I thought your desperate little hug meant that you missed me," he replied with a grin.

"Oh, I did. I was just wondering. And," she began, turning towards the other man in the hall who watched them with an unreadable expression on his broad face. "Well, he confused me!"

"Colin… he's a dick," Seamus said with a glare at his brother. "He'll be staying with us for a while."

"_What_?" That caught Alice even more off guard.

But there was no further explanation coming, as Seamus grabbed her hand and pulled her along the hall towards the stairs. "Come, I want to show you how much I missed you!"

_Well, okay! Good talk!_ But she wouldn't object, and on the inside, she couldn't care less about that other O'Grady in the house. The one member of that big family she cared about was pulling her past the bedroom right into the bathroom. He really seemed to have missed her as he already had his hands under her shirt the moment they entered the room. Their lips met simultaneously with the thud of the closing door. It took them only seconds to get undressed as they passionately hung onto each other.

One moment, Alice found herself pinned to the closed door, with Seamus grabbing her upper arms tightly while he hungrily sucked her skin; the next she was standing in the shower, with Seamus running his hands alongside her body while he kissed her wildly. It was as they stood closely pressed together, facing the same wall, under the water stream, lathering each other in a passionate way that made Alice forget about everything else, when there was a knock on the door and a husky "Seamus!" from outside.

Alice tilted her head with a sigh as Seamus froze in mid-motion, with his lips hovering over her collarbone. She felt his breath on her skin before he quickly kissed her shoulder and took a step backwards. She knew that he was furious and she had thought that his own brother would have known better as to disturb him. She turned her head a little to watch him leave the shower while the water was still running over her naked body. Even the little interruption couldn't keep her from scanning his soaked body as he walked towards the door, grabbing a towel on the way. _Hell, did she missed that…_

* * *

"What's wrong with you, Colin?" he shouted as soon as the door was open. _His stupid brother should know better as to disturb him!_

"No, what's wrong with _you_ I wonder?" was Colin's reply as he held something in front of Seamus' eyes.

He narrowed his eyes and snatched the little piece of paper out of his brother's hand. A business card. The large M on it, however, made him become even more furious. He looked up angrily. "What's that?"

"I found it on the floor."

"_Here_?" _How did a Malicia business card get into his house?_ How could something of the Spanish mafia be found inside _his _house?

"Yes. I told you –"

"Shut it!" was all Seamus could say at this point.

He felt overwhelmed, shaken by rage, dazzled with confusion and most of all stabbed by the ice cold pierce of feeling betrayed, a feeling he had learned to deal with for the last eight years. It couldn't happen again, could it? He was about to crumple the card in his aching fist, before he paused, drew a deep breath and turned around to enter the bathroom. Trying to remain calm, he closed the door and looked for Alice. He found her still standing in the shower, shampooing her long blonde hair.

Without any hesitation, he dropped the towel and walked back to her, the rotten piece of paper still in his hand. She looked up as he approached her. And even though he tried to resist the anger inside, he couldn't help but grab her throat with his free hand and pull her towards him. She squealed in shock and stared at him highly confused and terrified. Seamus didn't say a word in return, he just raised his other hand and showed her the card between his fingers; the large M clearly visible. But any sign of recognition failed to appear.

Alice just stared at him, even more confused and gasping for air like a dying fish. As the pain inside his muscles returned he slowly loosened his grip and let her go. She immediately rubbed her throat and stared up at him in bewilderment. He kept the card right in front of her nose.

"Do you know what this is?" he then asked.

She tilted her head to look at it. "A business card."

"And whose business card is this?"

"Eva Malicia," she read, before she looked back up at him. "Seamus, what's the matter?"

"Do you know that woman?"

She furrowed her forehead, water droplets running over her cheeks, making her look very tearful and vulnerable. "No, I don't. Why do you ask? And why did you choke me just now? What did I do, Seamus?"

He suddenly felt awful. Did he actually choke the girl he had been spending the last six months with? Did it really take a small card for him to strangle her in blind rage? Shouldn't he have learned to trust her by now? He slowly lowered the card and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he then mumbled, avoiding eye contact. "I had a tough week. I didn't mean to –" He looked up and gently stroke the skin he had violated only moments ago. "Hurt you."

Alice grabbed his hand and brought it up to her lips. "Never mind," she said and surprised him once again. He had never met a girl that would take this kind of violation so easily. He could only wonder what she had to experience in her young life. They locked eyes for a moment, before he turned around and placed the card on the edge of the sink.

"So you don't have any idea how that card came into my house?" he asked and cupped her face with both hands.

"Oh, I do. That woman brought it over," she replied and made him freeze. His hands gripped her face a little tighter. "But I told her to piss off and never come back."

Seamus stared at her. Not only because his little girl told one of the most influential women of the Spanish mob to piss off, but also because he was wondering what that woman had wanted here in the first place. Alice read his mind and went on slowly.

"I don't know what she wanted. It was a really strange visit. I don't think she'll come back."

"For her sake, I really hope so," Seamus muttered and released her face, before pushing her back into the shower.

Soon he felt his rage faltering. Even the pain that gripped his entire body seemed to vanish a little, as he felt passion rise inside of him. Returning to where they had been before they were interrupted, he quickly grabbed the soap and continued rubbing it on Alice's body. _How he had missed this girl…_

* * *

Alice felt herself being pressed against the wall of the shower, with Seamus's body making it impossible for her to move. She cherished his reborn passion and hoped – prayed – for her lie to stay undetected.

* * *

**A/N:** _**After almost two years, there really is an update! I hope you guys reading this are still able to get my little story and are still interested in our favorite Irish mobster and my little OC girl. So, as I'm back in writing mood, there might be even more of them now! Stay tuned and thank you for your patience!**_


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